Residents say they’re ready to move

Patricia PhenixMarch 1, 2015

Local realtor Patrick Rocca says that five or six residents of Randolph Rd. have already approached him to say they’ll sell their homes if the VIVA Retirement Communities proposal to build an eight-storey rental retirement building at 146-150 Laird Dr. is approved.

“One guy who sold his place last year said, ‘Thank God I did,'” he says.

Rocca predicts that house values on Randolph will fall by as much as 20-30 percent due to shading and lack of privacy.

“That’s a minimum,” he says, on the east side. On the west side, “It will knock 5-10 percent off.

Rocca compares the situation to one that has been happening the last few years on Bayview, south of Broadway, where developers hope to replace houses with condos.

“I know homeowners have been approached to sell their properties. For that reason house values on the west side of Bessborough (whose backyards abut the houses and low-rise apartment buildings on Bayview) are lower than those on the east side.”

Asked if he predicts the proposed development will be approved, Rocca says, “Probably not eight stories, more likely five, but something is inevitable.”